Tower cranes and scaffold mask the BMS site, but underneath, the building begins to take shape
Despite difficulties with the winter frosts, the Bio-medical Sciences building will be on schedule for it’s internal fit out to start in June confidently predicts Schal Construction Manager, Phil Hilton. Fears that the work wouldn’t meet the strict timing targets have been assuaged by rejigging of the work.
From the Queen’s Lawn, the Bio-medical Science building is a cluster of concrete pillars and steel poles. Behind the scaffold facade, the site’s 170 workers are currently laying the steel supports for the final two stories and completing the internal walls on the lower levels. Concrete laying was hindered by the weather and has subsequently overrun its schedule.
The next stage, the steel superstructure for the top two floors, has had to start without the concrete being finished. This, as explained by Schal’s Site Manager Oliver Clarke, has necessitated the use of a third tower crane, making the BMS building "the biggest construction project in the capital." The extra crane, which is sited within a service duct, will be removed after the steel work is complete.
Even without the internal walls, the impressive size of the future laboratories, seminar rooms and lecture theatres can already be gauged. Mr Hilton described the project as "challenging" with some unique features, particularly the central duct shaft which was "the biggest he had ever seen," and the central atrium that is designed to bring light into the centre of the block. The atrium, which will have a clear roof, will have a glass divider between the first and second floors to prevent noise rising from the public lower floors to the research levels above. Reading and writing-up areas will be set aside adjoining the atrium, with communal ‘social areas’ on the northside of the building overlooking the Queen’s Lawn. The ICSM Student’s Union has been allocated space on the ground floor.
The library extension and the music and arts centre, the source of much acrimony in recent weeks (Letters, Felix 1079), is proceeding at a steady rate, with weather sealing on the fourth floor almost complete. John Downey, Schal’s Library Site Manager, said that "noisy work had been restricted to between 10am and 2pm" to minimise the disturbance to staff and students.
Contrary to reports in IC Reporter that the music and arts centre’s funding bid for Lottery funding had failed, Ian Caldwell, Director of Estates, said that the application was being currently being put together for submission at the end of March
